take turns

phrase

variants also British take it in turns

: to do something one after another in regular succession in order to share the responsibility or opportunity of doing it : alternate

We take turns washing the dishes.

Almost immediately, Rick and Diane begin videotaping their classroom lessons, letting their students take turns with the cameras.

—Ann Bradley

Several youths were around the phone, taking it in turns to gossip and joke with the operator.

—Christopher Isherwood

Examples of take turns in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Itanare, Flores and Luis Freites Arvilla would then take turns appearing to approach the ATM, insert a card and enter a PIN, withdraw cash, and then repeat the process. — Jeanine Santucci, USA Today, 1 July 2026

Patients eagerly take turns sitting in the barber’s chair, looking forward to a haircut. — ABC News, 30 June 2026

Circles form beside drummers, and pairs take turns dancing in the middle, pirouetting around one another. — Armando Ledezma, New Yorker, 30 June 2026

Over the next several hours, Luis Freites Arvilla, Itanare and Flores would take turns withdrawing cash from the machine, in some cases changing their clothes before approaching the same ATM multiple times. — Emily Mae Czachor, CBS News, 30 June 2026

Word History

First Known Use

1613, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for take turns

• holofernes
• overturns
• subalterns
• adjourns
• concerns
• discerns
• downturns
• internes
• nocturnes
• returns
• sideburns
• churns